Single-atom nickel sites boosting Si nanowires for photoelectrocatalytic CO2 conversion with nearly 100% selectivity

Abstract

It is a challenge to design a photocathode with well-defined active sites for efficient photoelectrocatalytic CO₂ reduction. Herein, single-atom Ni sites are integrated into Si nanowires to develop a novel photocathode, denoted as Ni–NC/Si. The photocathode demonstrates a stable faradaic efficiency for CO production, approaching nearly 100% at −0.6 V vs. RHE. The introduction of single-atom Ni sites provides sufficient active sites for CO₂ reduction, thereby improving the selectivity towards CO formation.